Deliverance

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. ‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.”      Exodus 12:12-14  NKJV

This passage from the book of Exodus describes the very first Passover which was instituted by God when the children of Israel were captives in the land of Egypt.  My personal introduction to it came when I was probably no more than seven or eight years old and my parents took me to the theater to see the movie “The Ten Commandments” starring Charlton Heston as Moses.  I vividly recall the scene which depicts the first Passover and especially the screaming and wailing which occurred at midnight when the plague of the Lord arrived.

As most of us know, the result of God’s judgment on the land of Egypt was that Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave on that very day and Passover has become known as the day of deliverance from bondage.  Yet as I studied Passover throughout the Bible I discovered a few very interesting facts which have caused me to consider the possibility that it is a holiday we as believers might want to take a closer look at in terms of our deliverance as well.

One of the first things I discovered in my studies was that not only did God deliver the children of Israel out of bondage on Passover, He also arranged for it to play an important part of something I like to call the circle of deliverance.  I believe it’s logical, to my way of thinking, that if you are delivered out of something, it follows that you are then delivered into something else.  Look at the following passage from the book of Joshua.

“And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.”   Joshua 4:18,19 NKJV

“Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.” Joshua 5:9-10. NKJV

The obvious question that came to my mind was of all the days in a year, was it just coincidence Israel was delivered into the promised land just in time to celebrate Passover?  As you might expect from me if you are familiar with my past postings, to my way of thinking the answer to that would be no.  God always has a plan and it’s on us to figure out exactly what He is trying to show us.  So following the “pattern is prologue”  theory I decided to look deeper and see if there were other examples of Passover timing which might prove to be important in God’s plan for His people.

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”       Matthew 26:26-29  NKJV

Tomorrow, Sunday March 29, begins what the world recognizes as the Passion Week, or the week where Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world.  In the passage above from the book of Matthew, we see the account of what is called the “Last Supper” in the upper room with Jesus and His disciples.  It is, however, something else as well as it is not just any supper but what in Israel is called the “Pesach Seder”, or Passover Supper.  The dinner is an intricate part of the Passover celebration in which the memory of the deliverance of the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt is recalled.

In the traditional Seder, there are fifteen steps, or observances which each signify and relate to the deliverance on that first Passover in Egypt.  I am not going to examine all of these today but will encourage you to do that on your own to better understand why this is such an important event.  What I am going to discuss today is four of those fifteen steps which I will call the Four Cups of Wine.  This is because during the entire Seder, there are four instances where the participants drink a cup of wine in remembrance of the promises God made to them when they were still in bondage in Egypt.

“Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ‘And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.’ ”             Exodus 6:6-8  NKJV

 

The four cups of wine are taken to recall the four promises made in this passage which are referred to as the “four I wills”.  The first cup is called the cup of Sanctification…”I will bring you out from under the the burdens of the Egyptians”.  The second is called the cup of Blessing…” I will rescue you from their bondage”.  The third is the cup of Redemtion…” I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”, and the fourth cup is the cup of Acceptance…”‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God.”

 

In the passage from Matthew 26, according to many scholars it is believed that when Jesus said “Drink from it, all of you. “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” during the Seder with His disciples, He was referring to the 3rd cup of the Passover, the cup of Redemption.  Jesus was saying that by His shed blood we can be redeemed from our bondage to sin just as the Israelites were redeemed from their bondage in Egypt.  He then went on to say, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” 

 

Why?  In essence Jesus told the disciples, as well as all of us, that He would not drink the Fourth Cup, the Cup of Acceptance, until He could do so with those who have chosen to believe in Him when we are together with Him in Heaven.  According to the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral laws and traditions, Jesus is waiting for the marriage feast before He drinks from this cup.  (Mishnah, Pesahim 7:13)  Since we know that the marriage feast takes place after the rapture, is it possible that Jesus’ statement to His disciples about waiting to drink the Fourth Cup of Passover is actually His way of telling us that we will drink this cup with Him in heaven on a future Feast of Passover?

Now this is the question I have, considering I am always looking for patterns in the Word of God.  We saw in the Old Testament the example of the children of Israel being delivered from bondage on Passover, and being delivered into their promised land in time to celebrate the Passover.  Most students of the scripture understand that when Jesus was rejected by Israel as their Messiah, He set them aside temporarily and created the Church, made up of all who choose to believe He is the Son of God who died for our sins.  

As I see it, when Jesus was crucified on Passover, all who believe were delivered out of bondage to sin just as the Israelites were delivered out of their bondage to slavery in Egypt.  That said, in order to complete the picture we find in the Old Testament, it seems like the Church would have to be raptured, or delivered into our promised land in time to celebrate Passover with our Savior and drink of the fourth cup with him.  Knowing that God delivered the children of Israel into the Promised Land on the tenth day of the first month, which eventually would become Palm Sunday, and four days later they celebrated Passover, is it possible this is also a picture of when the church will enter her “promised land”?

Like always, I am predicting nothing except what the Bible makes clear and that is at some future point in time we will celebrate Passover in heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and drink the fourth cup of wine with Him.  Could it be soon?  I and many others certainly believe it could.  The question today is are you personally ready to participate in that event?  Have you made the choice to believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again to deliver you from the bondage of sin?  If not, praying a simple prayer like this is all that is necessary for you to be saved and become part of the family of God.

Dear Father in heaven, I believe in your son Jesus. I believe that He died on the cross for my sins, that He rose up from the grave, and that my sins are forgiven.  Forgive me of my sin, help me to walk with you, and thank you for saving me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Not If, But When

 “And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.”   Zechariah 14:12  NKJV

A question that has often crossed my mind when studying biblical prophecy is, considering so much of it has yet to occur, exactly what went through the minds of the Old Testament prophets when they were shown events three thousand years or so in the future?  What must Zechariah have thought when God gave him this vision and told him to write what he saw.  While we, on the one hand, can easily understand being familiar with twenty first century technology, what possible explanation could Zechariah have had seeing people die in this manner?  

The Hebrew word translated “dissolve” here is “maqaq” which literally means to melt.  In other words, Zechariah watched people melt away and “dissolve” while standing on their own two feet.  Again, understanding that this prophecy is yet future, I can only come up with one possible explanation for what could cause this to happen.  Most all scholars agree that what the prophet saw was the effects of a nuclear blast that is yet to come.  While that conclusion might come as a surprise to many, considering again that it occurs in the future there really is no other reasonable explanation.

When I first began to study this particular subject, it actually surprised me a little bit to find how many other prophecies in the Old Testament seemingly refer to the  use of nuclear weapons. As I thought more about this, I came to realize that this is a perfect response to those who question the veracity of biblical prophecy in that it so accurately describes the technology which exists today and was unfathomable to the world three thousand years ago.  Considering that virtually anyone familiar with the news lately knows how often the threat of using nuclear weapons is reported, I thought today I would share just a little of what I have found in prophecy which seems to speak to this subject.

 

Since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine, speculation has run rampant about the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons.  To be sure, these questions are legitimate, especially considering the rhetoric coming from Russia itself and their threats to use them if they feel they are justified in doing so.  While the world waits to see what tomorrow brings, many believers have asked if the Bible has anything to say about the possibility of these types of weapons being used in regards to end time prophecy.  After much study, and speaking on this subject for many years, my conclusion on the use of these types of weapons is that it is not a question of if, but when.

 

While this may come as a surprise to some, what I will attempt to do today is simply share just a few of many passages in the Bible which I believe will shed some light on what the future holds.  The first question that I had when I started my study was simply how in the world would a prophet from the Old Testament describe the weaponry and technology from the twenty first century?  The truth is, he could only describe what he saw based on what he knew from the times he was living in.  If you keep that in mind, much of what we read can begin to make sense when applied to our current situation in the twenty-first century.

Zechariah was not the only prophet to see things he more than likely found difficult to understand.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel also had visions that certainly hint at the use of nuclear weaponry. Consider this from the prophet Jeremiah.

“For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon An assembly of great nations from the north country, And they shall array themselves against her; From there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; None shall return in vain.”   Jeremiah 50:9  NKJV

 

Here we find a prophecy of the end times when Babylon will be judged and Israel restored.  The tools God uses to judge Babylon consist of an “assembly of great nations from the north”.  Since the setting is the end times, it seems logical we can assume Russia might be a large part of this alliance.  What is interesting here though, is that we are given a strange description of the weapons used rather than the men who use them. The following is an excerpt from some notes I have from Chuck Missler teaching on this passage many years ago.

 

“Smart weapons” are implied in Jeremiah 50:9, where: … their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.   The word “arrow” is chets, which can mean a dart, arrow, or javelin; or, “any missile fired from an engine of war.” In the Septuagint, the Greek boli.j can mean anything thrown: a missile, such as an arrow or javelin. Notice, however, that the adjective clause “as of a mighty expert man” is a descriptor of the arrow, not the shooter of the arrow. The key Hebrew word is  sakal, which means prudent, wise, circumspect; with insight and comprehension. It is the arrow itself that has the intelligence! This, indeed, is further emphasized in the final clause: “...none shall return in vain.” They can’t miss! Sounds like “smart weapons”-guided missiles or smart bombs. And this was written over two thousand years ago!                            http://www.khouse.org/articles/2001/344/ 

While this description of the delivery method is certainly intriguing, our question today is about the payload and if it could possibly be nuclear.  An interesting passage whose meaning has been debated for years is found in the book of Ezekiel and his prophecy of the coming conflict with the nation of Israel. Many believe, and I tend to agree, that what Ezekiel is trying to convey is a nuclear exchange between Magog and an unnamed country.

 

“And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.“   Ezekiel 39:6 NKJV

 

The term “send fire” in the Hebrew is “shaw-lakh’ aysh” and is used to describe judgment, and in the context of this verse it obviously comes from God.  Yet the first interesting thing about this passage is that it makes clear that the fire falls on two nations, not just Magog.  The debate has, for the most part, always surrounded the possible identification of the unnamed country being the United States.,considering that this conflict occurs in the end times and that by using the term coastlands Ezekiel is describing a country unknown at that time and located at the farthest reaches of the world.

 

The most interesting part of this passage, however, comes next.

 

“It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog. “For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. “Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD. “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. “The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.”   Ezekiel 39:12-15  NKJV

 

I probably am not alone in thinking this may be one of the strangest passages in scripture.  I often wonder if Ezekiel also thought these words didn’t make a lot of sense to him when he wrote them, trying to describe something he couldn’t possibly understand.  Look carefully with me as I try to explain what I believe we are being told here.  The first, and most important fact to consider, is that these events have yet to take place.  That means we must think in terms of the world’s current technology to understand what is being described.  “Fire” falls on Magog and his allies as they attempt to invade the nation of Israel.  In verse 4 of chapter 39 Ezekiel tells us that “all” of the troops will fall implying none will survive the fire that falls, which obviously makes one wonder exactly what is this fire?

 

The next clue is the statement that the dead will be given their own special burial place rather than being buried where they fell.  This place will be so large as to “obstruct travelers” implying a detour around the valley.  It will take seven months just to gather the dead and bury them in this valley but even more interesting is what comes after.  Israel will employ a special force of men whose job is solely to search for remains.  Even stranger is the fact that when they find bones or remains they do not touch them but set a marker by them so that other specialized “buriers” can collect and bury them.

 

Many believe what Ezekiel is trying to describe here is the cleanup in the aftermath of a nuclear weapon being used on the battlefield.  While some might disagree, I think it is more than just coincidence that the procedures Ezekiel describes here are almost identical to the current standard operation of collection and disposal of nuclear or biological contaminated remains on the battlefield as laid out by the US Army in their publication Operator’s Manual for Marking Set Contamination: Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC).

I have had occasion to wonder if Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, at some point in time wondered why God chose them to see these visions of the future, and the strange things they saw and tried their best to describe.  Here is yet another one we find early on in Zechariah’s book.

“Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: ‘Every thief shall be expelled,’ according to this side of the scroll; and, ‘Every perjurer shall be expelled,’ according to that side of it.” “I will send out the curse,” says the LORD of hosts; “It shall enter the house of the thief And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house And consume it, with its timber and stones.”   Zechariah 5:1-4  NKJV

The word in the Hebrew for scroll is “megillah”, which we understand to be a long sheet of parchment that is rolled up and placed in an ornate cylinder for safekeeping. Then of course, I looked closer at the dimensions of the scroll Zechariah saw and was surprised to find that the size he describes, if rolled up and put in its container, would be approximately 30 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter which is very comparable to the size of many ICBM’s around the world today.  

Now if you are starting to believe this is a stretch, stay with me a little longer as we examine this text a little closer with that possibility in mind.  Zechariah goes on to call it a “curse”, which is present throughout the whole earth, and tells us it will not only enter a house, but completely consume it, “timber and stones”.  So now we have to consider just what the nature of this curse could be if it is able to do exactly what Zechariah describes.  Since a normal detonation of a typical explosion only produces power capable of destroying a structure, we have to ask the question what sort of payload is capable of actually consuming it.  Believe it or not, Zechariah tells us what it is.

“Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.” So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth: “Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”; then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover over its mouth.”  Zechariah 5:5-8 NKJV

Now before some of you decide to have some fun explaining how a woman could be a curse, there is something about Hebrew you need to know.  In the Hebrew, the word for woman is ish·shä' , but the word used for fire, especially a sacrificial burnt offering, is also ish·shä'.  Confused?  I as well, but this is one of those times when the meaning is determined by the context, and most of the Hebrew scholars I found believe the meaning here is of fire.  I think too, you will agree, that fire seems to be a better explanation for the type of destruction described.  

The word for basket used here is “ephah”, which typically describes the baskets commonly used at that time to carry a measure of grain or other commodities.  What is different here is that Zechariah tells us that not only does it carry the fire, it is made of lead.  In the Hebrew Masoretic text, we are told the lead disk lifted up is a “talent” of lead which would be approximately one hundred pounds.  Now if just the lid is that heavy, how heavy is the rest of the container?  Not to mention the most intriguing question of all; what sort of “fire” needs to be shielded by lead in this day and age?

“Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?” And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”  Zechariah 5:9-11  NKJV

Of course, although these “megillahs” are said to go forth to all the earth, Zechariah goes on to tell us that the base of operations in the future will be in the land of Shinar, which is translated as the country of two rivers, or what later became known as Babylonia.  Of course, as we are told in scripture, the rebuilt Babylon will be the center of the coming anti-Christ’s power so it seems to make perfect sense he will have this sort of weaponry to unleash upon the whole earth.  Would he actually use nuclear weapons to advance his cause?  If you look closely at what is described to occur during that period of time soon to come, I believe the answer is self-evident.

Does the future of this world include the use of nuclear weapons?  In my humble opinion the Word of God certainly seems to tell us that.  Of course, my next question to you is does that really seem that hard to believe based on what we see occurring in the world at the present time?  I am convinced that it is not a question of if, but when.  Yet I also believe that it is not something for believers to be concerned about because it is also my opinion that we will be gone, raptured into heaven to be with Jesus before this ever takes place.  There is a saying that has made the rounds in Christian circles which says simple that “when the bombs come down, we go up”.  Will that prove to be the case?  Only time will tell but I am also certain that we are going to find out in our very immediate future.

If you have never made the decision to accept that free gift I encourage you to do so today.  Simply ask God to forgive you of your sin based on your belief that Jesus died to pay the price for your sin, and turn over control of your life to Him.  You can do that right now by praying a prayer just like this one;

Dear Father in heaven, I believe in your son Jesus. I believe that He died on the cross for my sins, that He rose up from the grave, and that my sins are forgiven.  Forgive me of my sin, help me to walk with you, and thank you for saving me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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2026: The Acceptable Year of the Lord?

“So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”                               Luke 4:16-21. NKJV

“Pattern is prologue.”   Chuck Missler

As many times as I have listened to teaching on this passage from the book of Luke, I have yet to hear anyone suggest what I am about to share with you today.  That is not, of course, a suggestion that I see what others don’t but rather an example of the fact that I was the kid who always asked (why?) when I was told something.  While others speak to the fact that when Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 in this passage from Luke, He chooses to stop in the middle and not finish the rest of the passage, my attention was drawn to the phrase “the acceptable year of the LORD”.   What made this particular time the “acceptable year” and what exactly did He mean by saying these words? 

Now if you research this as I did you will find that the majority of scholars are in agreement that this is a reference to the year of the Jubilee which we find  outlined in the Old Testament passage of Leviticus 25:9-15. Here we are told that in the year of Jubilee, all slaves were set free, all debts were forgiven, and land reverted back to its original owners.  In fact, many believe that when Jesus spoke these words it was the year of Jubilee, which explains why He chose to return to His hometown and speak in the synagogue.  That said, the question which immediately comes to mind is if there is any significance, especially in light of pattern being prologue, that Jesus spoke these words in a Jubilee year?

Virtually all who teach on this passage from Luke are in agreement that the reason Jesus did not complete the quote from Isaiah is simply because its what’s known as a dual fulfillment prophecy, or a prophecy which will be fulfilled twice.  The conclusion, considering it is a prophecy of the future judgment by God, is that it will occur at the end of the Church Age and after the rapture of the Church.  Considering that, one has to wonder if Jesus’ reference to setting free the oppressed in an acceptable, or Jubilee year is His way of telling us the rapture will occur in a future jubilee year?

If we accept that as a possibility we are left with the question of is it possible to know when a jubilee year will arrive after so many years?  Many would argue that it is not, yet there is evidence to suggest that we can, in fact, come to a reasonably accurate conclusion based on some simple yet factually reliable events in the past.  What I consider to be the best and most accurate research on this subject has been done by Randy Nettles of Rev310.substack.com and I am indebted to him for his diligence in calculating numbers in a way that I never could.  The following is an excerpt from one of his articles on the subject of the jubilee year.

2025-2026 is the 3,430th (7 x 7 x 7 x 10) year from 1406-1405 BC, when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. 3,430 years is the equivalent of 490 Sabbath (or Shemitah) cycles (3430 ÷ 7 = 490). If the Shemitah (and Jubilee) cycle/s began in (Tishri to Tishri) 1406-1405 BC, and is reckoned continuously regardless of the Jews leaving and re-entering the land, and if the 50th year is also the first year of the following Shemitah week, then 2025-2026 AD is the 70th Jubilee year for the Jews. https://rev310.substack.com/p/thy-kingdom-come-part-ii?utm_source=publication-search

The first day of Tishri, or Rosh Hashanah, arrives on the evening of September 11 this year, which would then give us September 10 as the last day of the Jubilee year.  If we were to assume God intends for the Church to be set free (raptured) in a Jubilee year, we then only have about six more months for that event to occur.  While I have made it a point in the past to affirm that I am not a date setter, and am a firm believer in the doctrine of imminence, the evidence that 2026 will prove to be a pivotal year in the history of the world is becoming rather hard to ignore.

Another interesting point to consider is, as I have mentioned before, in Judaism, there is a belief that God’s plan for this world will mimic the days of creation in that those six days will equate to six thousand years for the completion of His plan, with one day of one thousand years (the seventh day) as a “day” of rest.  Many Jewish rabbis have long said that the Talmud teaches that the Messiah must appear at or before the end of the sixth day, or six thousand year period of time. In the article referenced above, the author goes on to say this;

“Additionally, if 3968 BC marks the beginning of mankind’s creation, as I discussed in The Hepta Week Cycle For Six Millennia of Mankind:: By Randy Nettles – Rapture Ready, then 33 AD would have been mankind’s 4000th year (or four days for the LORD) and 2033 AD will be mankind’s 6,000th year (or six days for the LORD). The seventh “millennial day for the LORD” (6000 - 7000 AM) is the ‘Sabbath day.’ It is a ‘day’ of rest and worship.” https://rev310.substack.com/p/thy-kingdom-come-part-ii?utm_source=publication-search

Finally, and possibly the most important part of the Jubilee is the return of the land to its original owners.  Believers understand that it is God Himself who is the original owner of this world.  He created it, created all that inhabits it, and it has always been His to do with as He pleases.  Does it not seem logical that He chooses to reclaim His ownership in a Jubilee year when He also sets His servants free and cancels all indebtedness?  

I suppose my question today is this; am I the only one who finds it curious that this Jubilee year, known as “the year of redemption”, not only happens to be the 70th one, seventy being the number of completeness, wholeness, and fulfillment, but also appears to occur exactly seven years short of the end of the Sixth day or 6000 year time period which many believe brings the Second Coming of Christ?  Is it possible that 2026 will prove to be “the acceptable year of the LORD” where all believers will be set free from our sin nature, taken home to be with our Lord, and God will once again claim His ownership of this world?

Many believe that Peter, while teaching in the Temple, referred to a coming Jubilee when he spoke the following in reference to Jesus ascending back to Heaven forty days after His crucifixion;

“whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”  Acts 3:21. NKJV

The Jubilee is often referred to as a time of restoration and I certainly don’t believe it is just coincidence that he uses this term in this passage.  I have often heard it said that we are not seeing the signs of the times but rather the times of the signs, and I couldn’t agree more.  You may recall my first post of 2026 dealt with the subject of what we might expect to see in the coming year.  Well from my perspective, I have already seen so much more than I anticipated that I thank God every day that He sent His Son to die for my sin and allow me the opportunity to accept His salvation and promise of eternal life with Him.

If you have never made the decision to accept that free gift I encourage you to do so today.  Simply ask God to forgive you of your sin based on your belief that Jesus died to pay the price for your sin, and turn over control of your life to Him.  You can do that right now by praying a prayer just like this one;

Dear Father in heaven, I believe in your son Jesus. I believe that He died on the cross for my sins, that He rose up from the grave, and that my sins are forgiven.  Forgive me of my sin, help me to walk with you, and thank you for saving me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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